JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
February 15, 1883. ] 
143 
blished. Those who have to propagate and grow their bedding 
plants principally in cool houses and frames are advised to delay 
both the propagating and repotting the Pelargoniums till March. 
Dahlias, Salvia patens, beddiDg Fuchsias, Cineraria maritima, 
Centaureas of sorts, Marguerites, Gnaphaliums, Santolina incana, 
if introduced into a forcing house, will yield abundance of cut¬ 
tings, and which will strike readily in heat. As a rule, the beau¬ 
tiful Veronica Andersonii variegata strikes badly in the spring ; 
but we have succeeded with it, and those who may have strong 
old plants should place them in heat, and when the young growth 
is about 3 inches in length these should be taken off with a heel 
and struck. Cuttings of it strike more freely in the autumn, and 
when planted with Violas or Verbena venosa are remarkably 
effective. The most simple way to increase Verbena venosa is by 
cutting up the long fleshy roots into short lengths with two joints, 
dibbling-in these thickly in boxes of light sandy soil, and placing 
them on a hotbed. When plants are formed they may be hardened 
off and temporarily planted in cold frames in company with the 
shrubby Calceolarias. Tops of Golden Thyme dibbled-in thickly 
in pans or pots of light sandy soil and placed in a close frame, 
root quickly and form neater plants than are obtained by dividing 
the old roots. Polemonium coeruleum variegatum, though not 
extensively grown, is yet one of the best bedding plants we have. 
Dryness at the root and heat are most injurious to it, but plants 
wintered in cool houses and frames are now commencing growth, 
and at the same time emit roots near each crown. These crowns 
are detached from the main stem, dibbled singly into 3-inch 
pots, and placed in a cold frame. Good sandy soil is employed, 
and this is kept uniformly moist. In this manner handsome 
plants are soon grown, 
PLANT HOUSES. 
The Stove .—Eucharises that have flowered can now be potted 
before their growth is too far developed. Where a succession of 
bloom is required in preference to a good quantity at one time it 
is best to grow these plants in 5, 6, and 7-inch pots, placing two, 
three, or five flowering bulbs in each pot, according to their size. 
When in these pots, and the plants are prepared to bloom suc- 
cessionally, it is preferable to pot them as the various batches cease 
flowering, instead of going through the whole stock at one time. 
The liberal supply of water they require while in active growth 
soon renders the soil unfit for the roots, and on this account they 
should be annually repotted or liberally supplied with liquid 
manure and top-dressings. In potting all soil should be shaken 
from the roots, and the small bulbs removed, and if necessary to 
increase the stock they can be potted. The pots should be drained 
liberally, and the soil pressed firmly. The compost should consist 
of rich fibry loam and sand, to which should be added one 6-inch 
potful of bonemeal and nearly the same quantity of soot to each 
barrowful of soil; a little charcoal broken to the size of cob nuts 
is also beneficial. The foliage should be supported by two or 
three small stakes and a piece of matting until the roots com¬ 
mence growth, which will be in ten or fourteen days if the plants 
are placed in a moist heat. Water at once after potting, and keep 
the foliage continually moist until the roots are growing freely. 
Sow in brisk heat seeds of Gloxinias, Tuberous Begonias for 
late flowering, Torenia Fournieri (a fine plant for the decoration 
of the conservatory during summer), Celosia pyramidalis coccinea 
and its variety aurea, Cockscombs, and Grevillea robusta. The 
whole, except the last-named, should be sown on the surface of 
the soil in the pans or pots used, which for the three former should 
be sandy and as even as possible, while the Celosia and Cockscomb 
seed is best sown on the surface of fine leaf soil. The Celosia is 
a valuable plant for decoration, and its coloured foliage useful for 
associating with cut flowers. It is of easy cultivation, and any 
quantity can be raised from seed, which should be fairly covered 
with soil when sown, as it is rather long in germinating. Water 
with a fine-rose can, and cover with glass and moss laid over it, 
until the seeds germinate. 
Fuchsias that have been at rest may now be pruned, and started 
by introducing them into a temperature of 50° to 55°. Moisten 
the dry ball thoroughly, and syringe liberally until they break. 
As soon as they have fairly started into growth shake the old soil 
from their roots, and repot in the same or larger pots if necessary. 
Employ a compost of two-thirds good loam to one of old Mush¬ 
room-bed refuse and leaf soil, to which add a good dash of 
coarse sand. Water carefully for a time after potting. 
Cinerarias that are showing their flowers should have weak 
stimulants every time watering is necessary, and nothing will 
prove more beneficial than clear soot water ; it acts quickly and 
imparts a dark hue to the foliage. The same applies to the earliest 
Calceolarias that are or should be well established in their flower¬ 
ing pots. Young plants of the former that were raised from seed 
sown late and kept in 3-inch pots can, if they are not showing 
bloom, be placed in others 2 inches larger, and will prove invalu¬ 
able towards the end of May. Successional batches of Calceolarias 
will also need attention in potting. If success is to be achieved 
with these plants care must be taken that they do not suffer by 
the want of root room until after they are placed in their flower¬ 
ing pots. In potting use a compost of two-thirds fibry loam, one 
of leaf soil, with properly prepared cow manure and sand ; the 
latter should be rubbed through a rather fine sieve before mixing 
it with the other soil. 
. 
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Be 
HE BEE-KEEPER. 1 
, i , i. i . i. i.j ■ i • i ■ i ■ i ■ I—i t-i-i . i.i*i. r i. | .i.i. | » | . | -G | . 
FEEDING BEES IN AUTUMN, SPRING, AND 
SUMMER. 
(i Continued from page 81.) 
In our former letters we have spoken of the autumn and 
spring feeding of bees, and have put great stress on the necessity 
of feeding stocks in late summer when they are kept in a locality 
where there is no natural autumn harvest of honey. We wish to 
be well understood on this point, because not only the utility, but, 
indeed, the possibility of obtaining late hatches of brood have been 
called in question by some. Mr. Pettigrew’s letter in the Journal 
for February 1st, although at first sight seeming to differ from our 
opinion, really upholds us in our teaching, for he shows that when 
bees are sent from a locality in which the season has virtually 
ended, and where breeding therefore ceases, to the moors where 
another harvest is to be collected, those bees not only store honey, 
but “ fill their hives with brood from side to side.” 
Our first thorough examination of stocks which have passed 
through the present winter again proves the great advantage of 
autumn feeding. We fed all our bees last autumn until about the 
middle of September, so that the last brood was not hatched out 
until the first week in October. They are all in capital condition, 
but one hive in particular again repeats the lesson so often learnt— 
viz., that hives entirely deprived of their combs and stores, and 
fed on syrup and candy-cake in August and September, invariably 
prove the best of stocks in the following spring. This is of course 
provided that they are wintered in warm waterproof hives. A 
friend had a swarm of bees in a very large straw skep. Owing to 
the dull wet season it did not half fill this skep with combs. We 
were asked to take the bees, to run out for the owner what honey 
there was, and to put the bees into a bar-frame hive. We do not 
consider it worth the trouble to transfer the combs (excepting such 
as have brood to be hatched out) to the frames of the new hive. 
We gave full sheets of foundation, and fed the bees as mentioned 
above. Although surrounded by Heather, no honey was obtained 
from that source last autumn, owing to the wretched weather pre¬ 
vailing at the time. This stock of bees, therefore, was almost entirely 
fed upon sugar syrup and pea-meal cake. They increased rapidly 
after the transfer, and were wintered with six frames of comb. 
Examining them on the 6th inst. we found them certainly the best 
stock we have, not only as to strength, but also as to the beautifully 
clean and healthy appearance of their hive, and breeding had again 
commenced. 
We will now speak of the feeding of swarms. Let some bee¬ 
keeper who wishes to prove the utility of feeding swarms hive two 
swarms of about equal weight in separate hives. Should the 
weather be very fine still, let him gently feed one of the swarms, 
day and night if he will, but more especially each evening. After 
the lapse of a week or so let him examine and compare the two 
hives—the one having been left to Nature, and the other having 
been assisted. He will without doubt ever after feed his swarms. 
Every bee-keeper should become well acquainted with the time 
and season when the greatest flow of honey usually takes place in 
his district. In some favoured spots there are two or three harvests; 
in others only one, and perhaps this must be all collected in the 
short period of some five or six weeks. We once depended entirely 
on the white Clover harvest, which was only at its height for a 
little over three weeks; yet so great was the abundance of honey during 
that short space of time, that one stock would be working in as many 
as three or four supers (?) at the time. This was before we knew of 
sectional supers. On both sides of the brood-nest, behind it, and 
at the top, we have had receptacles simultaneously filled. But wliat 
an enormous colony we required to take all due advantage of this 
short harvest! and these mighty legions were only to be had by 
so feeding up our stocks and harbouring their strength against the 
time when we knew to within a few days the harvest would begin. 
